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The case against trust in Big Data: 'It's like you're being put into a cult, but you don't actually believe in it'

Scott Timberg
Salon
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 16:46 UTC
Weapons of Math Destruction
© Adam Morganstern
Cathy O'Niel
If you've ever suspected there was something baleful about our deep trust in data, but lacked the mathematical skills to figure out exactly what it was, this is the book for you: Cathy O'Neil's "Weapons of Math Destruction" examines college admissions, criminal justice, hiring, getting credit, and other major categories. The book demonstrates how the biases written into algorithms distort society and people's lives.

But the book, subtitled "How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy," is also a personal story of someone who fell for math and data at an early age, but became harshly disillusioned. As she looked more deeply, she came to see how unjust and unregulated the formulas that govern our lives really are. Though the book mostly concerns algorithms and models, it's rarely dry.

We spoke to O'Neil, a data scientist, blogger, and former Wall Street quant, from New York City. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

So let's start from the beginning. You were attracted to math as a kid, and you later became a quant. What drew you to to data, and what did seem to promise when you were first becoming fascinated by it?

Well, I was drawn to mathematics because it seemed to me so clean, so true. So honest, like people who are examining their assumptions are being extremely careful with their reasoning. It's purely logical. And I had this extremely idealistic naive approach to leaving academic math and going into finance. I had this idea that we could bring this kind of true, pure logic into the real world. And I entered in 2007, just in the nick of time to get a front-row seat to the financial crisis.
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Cell Phone

Driving or talking? The brain concentrates on one thing at a time


Science Daily
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 22:03 UTC
texting and driving
© sergeizubkov64 / Fotolia
Think you can text and drive just fine? New research confirms that our brain can only concentrate on one thing at a time.
When we are busy with something that requires the use of sight, the brain reduces hearing to make it easy for us. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by researchers from Linköping University in collaboration with others. The results give researchers a deeper understanding of what happens in the brain when we concentrate on something.

"The brain is really clever, and helps us to concentrate on what we need to do. At the same time, it screens out distractions that are extraneous to the task. But the brain can't cope with too many tasks: only one sense at a time can perform at its peak. This is why it's not a good idea to talk on the phone while driving," says Jerker Rönnberg of Linköping University, professor of psychology with a focus on disability research.

Comment: Our big brain still prefers to do one thing at a time
Americans admit to dangerous distractions while driving
Research: Brain can't cope with making a left-hand turn and talking on hands-free cell phone

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Blue Planet

Storm track study essentially says 'we are guessing at future global weather patterns'

Anthony Watts
Watts Up With That
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 20:09 UTC
IR clouds outline global wind patterns
From the University of Exeter and the "but we are certain there's some kind of effect" department comes this uncertain study:

Induced climate change 'tug of war' keeps scientists guessing on storm tracks

The effects of man-made climate change can hamper scientific projections of how key global weather patterns will act in the future, a new study has revealed.

The pivotal study, carried out by a team of international researchers, has shown that 'multiple' environmental influences can stymie predictions of how mid-latitude storms could behave.

Professor Mark Baldwin, Head of Mathematics at the University of Exeter and co-author of the paper said: "The study frames the important problem of what factors influence the paths of storms, and explores the possible future changes to storms and precipitation as climate changes."

Comment: A strange change has occurred in the stratosphere

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Brain

Did you know that intelligence is inherited from mothers?

Jennifer Delgado
Psychology Spot
Mon, 05 Sep 2016 19:04 UTC
Young girl with glasses
Smart people should thank their mothers because, according to researchers, their mothers are responsible for the transmission of the intelligence genes. Thus, gender stereotypes that survived over centuries are perhaps about to disappear. Single mothers who want an intelligent son don't need to look for a Nobel Prize at the nearest sperm bank and it is likely that men begin to re-evaluate the intelligence of women.

At the basis of this idea there are those known as "conditioned genes", that behave differently depending on their origin. Basically, these genes have a kind of biochemical tag which allows to trace the origin and reveals even if they are active or not within the progeny cells. Interestingly, some of these affected genes work only if they come from the mother. If that same gene is inherited from the father, it is deactivated. Obviously, other genes work the opposite, are activated only if they come from the father.
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Robot

The vague and nebulous concept of the 'Internet of Things'


GovTech
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 15:57 UTC
Modular sensor box in Chicago
© Alex Garcia
Urban Center for Computation and Data Director Charlie Catlett shows off the Array of Things modular sensor box, which is to be attached to a pole in the city of Chicago, to collect real-time data on the city's environment, infrastructure, and activity for research and public use. His hands are resting on the shell that protects the sensors, while allowing for the necessary air flow required to measure air quality.
The concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) is nebulous by design.

Oh, a definition is easy. The ITU, the United Nations' information technology arm, has defined IoT as "a global infrastructure for the information society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on existing and evolving interoperable information and communication technologies."

It's when one tries to understand what the IoT would look like that things get complicated. The IoT is, well, anything that can be connected wirelessly. So its applications involve anything one could conceive of to do with a wirelessly connected device.

On the government side, the applications usually boil down to one thing: data. Having connected devices means that government can gather much more data on a much finer scale and often in real time. It also means government can better assess how effective its actions were, better understand what it needs to do and better model what impact its actions might have.

That's as true in traffic planning as it is in electric power or fleet management, or policing, or public transit.

Though many people frame discussion of the Internet of Things as a future hypothetical, it's technically already existed for quite some time. Cellphones are sensor-laden, connected, ubiquitous devices. Cars are becoming increasingly connected. Air quality districts already take frequent measurements of the atmosphere.

Comment: There is a far darker side to the Internet of Things concept. See: The dark side of the Internet of Things

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Magnify

Forensic game changer: U.S. scientists find substitute for DNA testing by using hair-protein identification method


RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:30 UTC
proteomics human hair testing
© Julie Russell / llnl.gov
A potential forensic game-changer is emerging, as US government scientists have found a substitute for DNA testing for identification purposes. The new technique identifies genetic protein mutations in human hair, offering a striking level of precision.

Researchers with the US Department of Energy at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California tested samples of hair that belonged to six separate individuals that had lived in London in the 1750s. Though the test subjects' remains had long turned to bones, their hair was intact. The scientists then took 76 living individuals - 66 of European-American ancestry, as well as 5 Kenyans and 5 African-Americans - and performed the same tests on them.

The technique, dubbed "proteomics," worked like a charm on both sets of individuals.

"We are in a very similar place with protein-based identification to where DNA profiling was during the early days of its development," Brad Hart, director of the national laboratory's Forensic Science Centre and co-author of the study, said in a news release.
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Jet5

China says it has stealth-defeating quantum radar with single photon detection technology


RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:16 UTC
US stealth bomber
© Cherie A. Thurlby / Reuters
A Chinese firm has reportedly developed and tested a radar system that uses quantum entanglement to beat the stealth technology of modern military craft, state media said.

The first Chinese quantum radar was developed by the Intelligent Perception Technology Laboratory of the 14th Institute in CETC, according to Xinhua news agency. CETC stands for Electronics Technology Group Corporation, a defense and electronics firm.

The radar was tested in mid-August, Xinhua said in a Thursday report.

The system was able to detect a target at a range of 100 kilometers in a real-world environment, the report said. The device employs single photon detection technology.
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Nebula

Has Hubble revealed 'smoking gun' in Eta Carinae mystery?

Daniel Stolte-Arizona
Futurity
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 06:18 UTC
Eta Carinae
© Nathan Smith/UA and NASA.
Best known for an enormous eruption in the 1840s that created the billowing, hourglass-shaped Homunculus Nebula imaged here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, Eta Carinae is the most massive and luminous star system within 10,000 light-years.
New findings help rewrite the story of how the iconic and mysterious Eta Carinae star system came to be and present a critical piece of the puzzle of how very massive stars die.

In the mid-1800s, astronomers surveying the night sky in the Southern Hemisphere noticed something strange: Over the course of a few years, a previously inconspicuous star named Eta Carinae grew brighter and brighter, eventually outshining all other stars except Sirius, before fading again over the next decade, becoming too dim to be seen with the naked eye.

What had happened to cause this outburst? Did 19th-century astronomers witness some strange type of supernova, a star ending its life in a cataclysmic explosion?

A 'supernova impostor'

"Not quite," says Megan Kiminki, a doctoral student in the University of Arizona's department of astronomy and Steward Observatory. "Eta Carinae is what we call a supernova impostor. The star became very bright as it blew off a lot of material, but it was still there."
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Fireball 5

Asteroid 2016 RB1 to flyby Earth at 0.1 Lunar Distance on September 7

Ernesto Guido
Remanzacco Blogspot
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 18:08 UTC
The asteroid 2016 RB1 was discovered (at ~ magnitude +19) on 2016, September 05 by Mt. Lemmon Survey (MPC code G96) with a 1.5-m reflector + 10K CCD.

Asteroid 2016 RB1 has an estimated size of 7.3 m - 16 m (based on the object's absolute magnitude H=27.8) and it will have a close approach with Earth at about 0.1 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.0003 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) on 2016, September 7 at 17:20UT and it will reach a peak magnitude of about +12.3. Radio astronomers will try to observe it as 2016 RB1 could be a really strong radar target during its close approach.

I performed some follow-up measurements of this object on 2016, September 07.6, remotely from the Q62 iTelescope network (Siding Spring, Australia) through a 0.4-m f/3.5 reflector + CCD. Below you can see our image taken with the asteroid at about magnitude +13 and moving at ~ 503 "/min. At the moment of its close approach on Sep 07, around 17UT, 2016 RB1 will move at ~ 2716 "/min (or about 45.2 deg/hour). The asteroid is trailed in the image due to its fast speed. Click on the image below to see a bigger version. (North is up, East is to the left).
Asteroid 2016 RB1
© Remanzacco Blogspot
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Blue Planet

Solving the mystery of monodominance: How monocultures evolve in the rainforest

Tilo Amhold
Phys.org
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 11:47 UTC
sunshine forest
In ecology, monodominance is identified as a condition in which at least 60 percent, or often even 90 percent of trees in a natural forest belong to the same tree species. We know of at least 22 species from eight families that create forest areas of this kind. How this is achieved is a mystery on which ecologists have speculated for decades.

Gilbertiodendron dewevrei is one of the monodominant tree species from the tropical forests of Western and Central Africa, and is amongst the best researched species, even if there is no English name for it as yet. Its heavy timber is traded under the name Limbali. The evergreen tree from the Caesalpinioideae family can grow up to 45 metres tall and is primarily striking because of its fruit, which can grow up to 30 cm long and contain up to six seeds. The seeds are eaten by of the most diverse of mammals including lowland gorillas, although they host poisonous compounds. For this reason, they are only roasted, cooked or made into porridge by the people of Central Africa during periods of food shortage.

Compared with the seeds of other tropical trees, which generally weigh less than one gram, the seeds of the G. dewevrei, are extremely heavy at 20 grams and are therefore not transported by wind, but usually remain within a radius of six metres from the mother tree. As a result, the species propagates extremely slowly - about 100 metres in 200 to 300 years. Gilbertiodendron dewevrei then accounts for up to 90 percent of the canopy, obstructing the growth of other species. In contrast, the seedlings themselves are highly tolerant to shade, and can survive under the old trees until they die out and make room for new ones. In this way, other tree species are also replaced until G. dewevrei dominates areas measuring up to 100 square kilometres.
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